This invention relates to an airplane with multi-level cabins for cargos or passengers in its fuselage, into which it is easier to load cargos, and a method of loading cargos into those cabins.
FIG. 25 is a simplified perspective drawing of the cargo cabin into which cargo is loaded in an airplane. FIG. 26 is a lateral cross section (taken perpendicular to the length of the plane) of the cargo cabin. In FIG. 25, 1 is a fuselage of the aircraft; 2 are main wings; and 3 are tail wings.
As can be seen in FIG. 26, this sort of cargo cabin is divided into an upper cargo cabin 10 and a lower cargo cabin 11 by a partition 14 which runs along the length of the fuselage. The upper and lower cargo cabins 10 and 11 have cargo hatchways 023 and 23, respectively, which are opened and closed by cargo doors 012 and 12. Normally, as can be seen in FIG. 25, the cargo cabin has one cargo hatchway 023 in either the fore or aft section of the craft and two cargo batchways 23, one in the fore section and the other in the aft section.
Cargo door 12 and cargo hatchways 23 are normally used to load cargo belonging to passengers and cargo for commercial transportation.
To load cargo item 13 into such a cargo cabin, it is first transported through hatchway 023 into the upper cargo cabin 10. A conveyor (not pictured) which extends along the entire length of the upper cabin floor 28 moves the cargo item to its designated location in upper cargo cabin 10. A cargo item is also transported through hatchway 23 into the lower cargo cabin 11 and transported by a conveyor (not pictured) running along the length of the lower cabin floor 19 to its designated spot in lower cabin 11. When the cargo is to be unloaded, the reverse operation is performed.
As is explained above, the prior art cargo cabin has an upper cargo cabin 10 and a lower cargo cabin 11, each of which has a cargo hatchway (023 and 23) opened and closed by a cargo door (012 and 12). Cargo is loaded and unloaded through these cargo hatchways.
However, the cargo doors (012 and 12) which close the cargo hatchways (023 and 23) must be of the same thickness and made of the same material as fuselage 1 so that they have the same strength as the fuselage having no cut for hatchways. The doors must therefore be extremely massive. Moreover, since there are large pressure and temperature differentials between the inside and the outside of the aircraft, the areas between the doors (012 and 12) and the cargo hatchways (023 and 23) must be rigorously sealed. Thus, installing a cargo door (012 or 12) to close a hatchway (023 or 23) requires numerous assembly processes and costly materials.
The prior art technology shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, then, requires that the sort of cargo hatch doors described above (012 and 12), which entail numerous assembly processes and costly materials, be installed on the cargo hatchways (023 and 23) of the upper cargo cabin 10 and lower cargo cabin 11. This drives up the cost of the aircraft, or, in the case of a passenger aircraft which is being converted into a cargo aircraft, increases the number of processes required and the cost of remodeling the plane.
The present inventors"" investigation of the prior art has not turned up any technology concerning the relationship between the cargo doors (012 and 12) and cargo cabins 10 and 11.
FIG. 24 is a partial cross plain section of an aircraft according to the prior art. The galley service spaces 505, 506 are provided at the fore section of fuselage 500, in which the flight attendants prepare the drink service for the passengers seated ahead of main wing 525. Another galley service space 507 is provided at the aft section. Since the drink service is offered after the aircraft takes off, the drink will be consumed before the arrival at the destination. It is necessary, therefore, to exchange the new wagons loaded with drinks during the time that the aircraft is parking at the destination airport. The new sets of wagons provided from gailey service car 503 must be carried into the aircraft via the emergency door provided on the same floor as the passenger cabin floor.
It is, however, not possible to exchange to the new sets of wagons during the time that the passengers are deplaning from the aircraft, and it is possible only after the deplaning of the passengers is completed. This drives the parking period of the aircraft longer, and makes it difficult to schedule many flights in a limited time length. This fact also makes the passenger""s waiting time longer, and causes damages for the profitability of the airline companies for the convenience of the passengers.
In view of the technical problems described, the objective of this invention is to provide a device and method to load cargo into an aircraft of the sort with multi-level cargo or passenger cabins in the fuselage. Such a device would, without diminishing the capacity to load or unload cargo on either level, reduce the number of cargo hatchways and doors through which cargo would be loaded and unloaded and further reduce the cost of the aircraft. If a passenger aircraft is being remodeled into a cargo aircraft, it will obviate the need to provide additional hatchways and doors beyond the hatchways and doors the craft originally came with, and it will greatly reduce the number of processes required and the cost of revamping the craft.
Since the beverage and food service is offered after the aircraft takes off, the beverages will be consumed before the arrival at the destination. It is necessary, therefore, to exchange the new beverage wagons loaded with the drinks during the time that the aircraft is parked at the destination airport.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a device and method to load the new set of beverage and food wagons, as mentioned above, into the aircraft without the necessity of moving the new set of wagons on the same floor as the passenger floor. According to this invention, the loading of the new set of wagons can be processed during the time that the passengers are deplaning from the aircraft. It can shorten the parking time of the aircraft on the ground, and make it possible to schedule more flights in a limited time. This can result in shortening the waiting time for the passengers, and result in improving the profitability of the airline companies and convenience of the passenger.
According to this invention, the aircraft is provided with multi-level cabins functioning as a cargo cabin or passenger cabin. It is distinguished by the configuration which comprises, a first cabin provided with a cargo hatchway which is opened and closed by a cargo door on a fuselage, the cargo door facing towards the cargo cabin; a second cabin which lacks the cargo hatchway, the second cabin being positioned directly above or under the first cabin; and an elevator to convey a cargo item, moved into the first cabin through the cargo hatchway, to the second cabin, and to convey back the conveyed cargo item from the second cabin to the first cabin, thereby the cargo item is moved between the exterior of the aircraft and the second cabin.
It is, therefore, possible in this aircraft according to this invention, to move the cargo items into and from the aircraft through the existing cargo hatchway (hatchway used only for cargos). Since the elevator can move the cargo items between the first cabin provided with a cargo hatchway which is opened and closed by a cargo door on a fuselage, and the second cabin which lacks the cargo hatchway, it obviates the need to provide a new cargo hatchway which lowers the strength of the fuselage. The number of cargo hatchways and doors can be reduced without affecting the ability to load and unload cargo on every level. This arrangement lowers the cost of the aircraft.
When a passenger aircraft is being converted to a cargo aircraft, this arrangement makes it unnecessary to add on any new hatchways and doors beyond what the plane originally had. This significantly reduces both the number of processes required to remodel the plane and the cost of remodeling it.
According to this invention, it is possible to move up the cargo into the cabin for the passengers by the elevator, and move down the cargo from the passenger cabin to the cargo cabin which has the cargo hatchway. This makes it possible to move the cargo without using the passenger floor when they are boarding or deplaning.
The first cabin provided with the cargo hatchway is located in a lower cargo cabin on a lower portion of the aircraft, and the elevator to convey the cargo items between the first cabin and the second cabin located above the first cabin is located near the cargo hatchway.
If the aircraft has three vertical levels of cabins which comprise a lower cargo cabin, a central cargo cabin, and an upper cargo cabin, the lower and central cargo cabins are configured as the first cabin which is provided with the cargo hatchway, the upper cargo cabin is configured as the second cabin which lacks the cargo hatchway, and the elevator conveys the cargo items between the first and second cabins.
More specifically, this invention would provide a cargo hatchway closed by a door only on the lower level cargo cabin. Thus, cargo could be loaded onto the plane through the cargo hatchway and then transported vertically by means of an elevator from the hatchway on the lower level to the upper level cargo cabin. This would obviate the need to provide hatchways with doors on them, as was done in the prior art, on both the upper and lower cargo cabins. The cargo to be stowed in both the lower and upper cargo cabins could be loaded through a single cargo hatchway and unloaded through the same hatchway.
This invention reduces the height above the ground at which cargo is loaded onto the plane. This lowers the cost of the cargo loader and enhances the safety of the personnel who are loading the cargo.
With this invention, then, an aircraft can have a single door or a minimum number of doors to open and close cargo hatchways. These doors must be the same thickness and made of the same material as the fuselage, so they are extremely massive. They must also be rigorously sealed. Reducing the number of doors thus reduces the number of assembly processes required to produce the aircraft and significantly reduces its cost.
When a passenger aircraft is converted to a cargo aircraft, the existing cargo hatchway and door on the lower cargo cabin can be used. An elevator can be provided near the hatchway or elsewhere in the cabin on the lower level, and the cargo loaded through the existing cargo hatchway can be moved vertically by means of the elevator. It can thus be easily transported to the upper cargo cabin, so there is no need to provide an additional hatchway with a door. This reduces both the number of processes required to remodel the plane and the cost.
The aircraft according to this invention has a multi-level cargo cabin. The horizontal conveyor should also be provided in each of the cargo cabins which communicates with the elevator so as to receive or load cargo. Such a conveyor would receive the cargo moved by the elevator and convey it horizontally into the cabin on that level.
If the cargo cabins are large, cargo hatchways can be provided in several locations on the cargo cabin wall, and an elevator can be provided near each of the hatchways. If this configuration is chosen, cargo can be loaded and unloaded through a number of hatchways along the length of the fuselage. This will improve the efficiency of the loading operation.
The elevator can comprise a cargo stage for loading the cargo item; an expansion link connected to the bottom of the cargo stage which can expand vertically; and an actuator to expand or contract the expansion link so as to move the cargo stage up or down. Alternatively, the elevator can comprise a cargo stage for loading the cargo item; a plurality of ropes connected to the cargo stage and a plurality of pulleys from which the rope is hung, which raise and lower the cargo stage; and a drive mechanism connected to the ropes, which raises and lowers the cargo stage by winding up or letting out the ropes.
If the latter configuration is chosen, a rope is connected to the stage on which the cargo is loaded, and the rope is connected via a pulley to a drive mechanism. The drive mechanism takes up or lets out the rope to raise or lower the loading stage. This configuration allows the stage to be raised easily to a considerable height, so it would obviate the need for a cargo hatchway on each level even if an air cargo plane had three or more levels. It would minimize the number of hatchways and doors, and would further reduce the number of assembly processes required to build the plane as well as its cost.
The invention could also be effectively realized by the following configuration. The cargo cabin is divided by a plurality of horizontal partitions, and the elevator comprises a driving device to drive the elevator and a gear to be driven by the driving device; and a guide rail, and racks provided on the guide rail and interlocked with the gears, which are stored in the partition and come out in a vertical direction before the elevator is activated.
With the technology described above, a drive source and gears connected to the drive source are provided on the elevator. The cargo cabin is divided by partitions. In the walls of the partitions is a guide mechanism which guides the movement of the elevator and racks interlocked with the gears. Before the elevator is driven, the mechanism which guides the elevator and the hardware related to moving the gears and the interlocked racks move into the area traveled by the elevator. When the elevator is not being driven, the hardware related to its movement is stored in the partition walls rather than remaining in the cargo cabin. This enhances the safety of any personnel working in the area.
The invention could also be effectively realized by the following configuration. The galley service space is provided in the second cabin used as a passenger cabin, and the elevator conveys a wagon container filled with wagon cargos between the galley service space and the first cabin, so that the wagon cargos are moved in and out from the wagon container in the galley service space, and the wagon container is conveyed between the exterior of the aircraft and the galley service space.
With the technology described above, the configuration makes it possible to move the wagons through the cargo hatchway provided in the cargo cabin. It can move the wagons to the galley service space in the second cabin by the elevator. It is no longer necessary to move the wagons on the passenger floor as in the prior art. It is, thus, possible to deliver the wagons during the time that the passengers are getting off the aircraft. It is, therefore, no longer necessary to exchange the new and old wagons after the passengers leave the aircraft as a conventional way, and it can be processed during the time passengers are getting off the aircraft. This can shorten the parking time of the aircraft, and more flights can be scheduled in the same length of time. This can shorten the waiting time of the passengers, and also improve the profitability of the airlines and convenience of the passengers.